Goose Island and Frontera Grill team up for limited edition beer

By Josh NoelTribune newspapers

In today's Dining section, we get dreamy for Alma, the latest collaborative beer between Goose Island and Frontera Grill. At press time, it looked as if the beer would only be around for another week, but good news: it should be on draft at Frontera through the end of January.

And now even better news. Another collaboration between the heavyweights will be tapped next week, and this one will be extremely limited. Xocolatl, a barrel aged chocolate barley wine, will be on tap when Frontera opens its doors next Wednesday at 5 p.m. It will probably last a couple of days.

Xocolatl is made with the same chocolate beans used in the divine hot chocolate served at Frontera's sister restaurant, Xoco, Mexican vanilla and ancho chili. It was aged for 18 months in barrels used to age Elijah Craig 18-year-old whiskey.

Both Frontera proprietor Rick Bayless and Manny Valdes, the head of Frontera Foods (the non-restaurant wing of the company), crafted the beer with Jared Rouben of Goose's Clybourn brewpub.

Matt Cisar, manager at Frontera, said the partnership between heavyweights will likely produce more beers. The first brewed between the parties, Marisol, was initially draft only, but has sold so well that it will be available in bottles within the next couple of months. Next up is another long-term project that will be on draft at Frontera called Corazon. Cisar said there will be more.